Despite it’s slightly off-putting name, dirty blonde hair is anything but dirty. If done correctly, this naughty-sounding color is an excellent hair shade that looks clean and sharp on anyone. As the false stereotypes go, with this hair color you can have as much fun as a blonde while having the brains of a brunette, as dirty blonde hair is a perfect combination of both.

When dyeing your hair any color, it’s essential to know which tone, cool or warm, will suit you and your undertones. The nice thing about dirty blonde hair is that the shade can be adapted to fit your complexion. As the rule of thumb goes, cool-toned skin looks best with cool-toned hair, and warm-toned hair looks best with warm-toned skin.

What Is Dirty Blonde Hair Color

Dirty blonde hair is a mix of both worlds, blending a range of blonde and brunette, sometimes silver or gold, hair colors to reveal a striking balance between the two. It doesn’t matter what end of the hair color spectrum you start on, brown or blonde; either side can achieve a dirty blonde hair color.

Getting the dirty blonde hair look is accomplished by adding darker lowlight tones to natural blonde hair or lightening up brown hair with notes of typically darker blonde. This color is also great because it can be catered to an endless range of skin undertones, from cool, neutral, and warm, making it fit for anyone and everyone. If you are unsure of which undertone complexion you have, no worries. Here’s a chart to help you find yours.

Undertones	Defining Characteristics
Cool-Toned	The undertones of the skin appear pink or blue. Usually fair-skinned. Blue veins Burns quickly or turn red in the sun. Jewel tones are more flattering on cool-toned complexions: blues, emerald greens, and purples.
Neutral Toned	Have both green and blue veins. Look flattering in dusty pinks, medium greens, jade, light peach, and lagoon blue.
Warm Toned	Green veins. Usually have a deeper, more olive skin tone. Won’t typically burn in the sun (Even if you don’t burn, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear sunscreen!) Looks flattering in earth tones, such as yellows, oranges, red, and olive green.

Dirty Blonde With Highlights

Dirty blonde hair with highlights is excellent for those looking for a more elevated blonde look. As we know, dirty blonde hits the sweet spot between blonde and brunette. However, adding more prominent highlights to your hair can create a lighter hue that will have you falling further on the blonde side of the spectrum.

Adding blonde highlights to your hair is a great way to add dimension and depth. Your hair might need to have those two aspects because they add visual illusions of

• Thickness
• Shape
• And texture

Natural Dirty Blond Hair

Natural dirty blonde hair is just that, natural. If you are one of those are and lucky ones with beautiful dirty blonde hair that never fully darkened as you aged, we all envy you. That said, just cause you don’t have naturally dirty blonde hair doesn’t mean you can’t fake it till you make it. We actually suggest you fake it till you make it if that means you get the color you want.

The trick to getting natural-looking dirty blonde hair is to make it as seamless and single-toned as possible. Instead of having highlights or lowlights in your hair, making it a seamlessly blended color will give it that natural-looking appearance. Having streaks of different shades in your hair is a likely dead giveaway that your oh-so-natural hair is, in fact, not so natural. If you have thicker hair, this option might be better for you, as sometimes, using less color variation adds less visual illusions of thicker hair.

Blonde Highlights On Dirty Blonde Hair

Highlights for dirty blonde hair are a great way to lighten your luscious locks while keeping some of your original colorings. Adding highlights only bleaches and tones the strands of your hair instead of your whole head. Adding them to your dirty blonde color may make you appear even more blonde. It might even look like you no longer have dirty blonde hair, but that depends on how light you go.

Getting highlights is a great way to lighten up your strands without fully committing. Highlighting can take less time and cause less damage than bleaching your whole head. If you are on the fence about changing your hair color, try this out first and see how you feel about the entire experience.

Dark Dirty Blonde Hair

If going super light isn’t up your alley, this dark dirty blonde is ideal if you want to bring a little sunshine to your locks but still want to keep it dark and mysterious. Adding dimension to your hair with lighter or darker streaks, depending on where your hair color started, is a great way to give the appearance of thicker hair.

If you are starting with lighter hair and want to go a bit darker to achieve that dark dirty blonde color, you’ll likely have to dye small strands of hair darker, aka get lowlights. If you’re starting with darker hair and want to add lighter strands, you’ll have to bleach some of your hair.

Before bleaching your strands, it’s important to note that it can be very damaging. When you bleach your hair, the alkaline agent opens the hair cuticles, and an oxidative agent penetrates deep into the hair, dissolving the hair’s coloring. The longer you leave the bleach on your hair, the lighter your hair will be and the more likely it will cause

1. Dry hair
2. Breakage
3. Damage of hair bonds
4. Split ends
5. Brittle strands

Dirty Blonde Hair Dye Top Picks

When planning to go dirty blonde or any color, your best bet is hitting the salon because dirty blonde is more than one color, which can be tricky to do at home. Doing the highlights at home, and perhaps alone, would take brain power, serious concentration, and plenty of patience. However, we know a trip to your hairdresser can be very time-consuming and cost a pretty penny, or 40,000 pretty pennies, maybe more, depending on how much they charge. There are many reasons why someone would choose to dye their hair at home, such as

1. It’s affordable
2. It’s convenient
3. It’s easy
4. It’s fun

That’s why we have provided three great options for your to achieve dirty blonde hair at home.

Garnier Hair Color Nutrisse Nourishing Creme

One of the top most popular hair dyes is the Garnier Hair Color Nutrissee Norushing Creme in color 700 Dark Natural Blonde (Almond Crème). However, if that shade isn’t doing it for you, you can choose forty-five other ones. The formula has a combination of fruit oils to deliver permanent color, such as

• Avocado oil
• Olive oil
• Shea oil

Garnier prides itself on being easy to use and having a no-drip formula. Using this product may be your best bet if this is your first time dyeing your hair at home. Dyeing your hair a different color can be a semi-stressful thing. We don’t need to add to the stress by using complicated formulas.

Clairol Natural Instincts Demi-Permanent Hair Dye

This Clairol product is an excellent option for those who aren’t fully committed to the dirty blonde look but want to give it a spin. This demi-permanent dye is perfect for those searching for a natural look to their luscious locks and fades out in only 28 washes. Not only will it provide a stunning dirty blonde hair color, but it will add shine and a radiant, healthy look. Since this color doesn’t last long, it could be fun to play with different shades to figure out which one suits you best.

This particular Clairol product selling points:

• Semi-permanent
• Enhances color
• Blends away greys

L’Oreal Paris Superior Preference Fade-Defying + Shine Permanent Hair Color

This permanent hair color is for those looking to add a dazzling new color, shine, and dimension, and it is perfect for fine-haired folks. This latest technology will provide lasting color and make you confident in whichever shade you choose. Many other L’Oreal formulations are available if this one doesn’t tickle your fancy.

It can be beneficial to use and have all the proper instruments and ingredients that this kit comes with to ensure an effortless experience, such as

1. Gloves
2. Tint / color
3. Developer applicator
4. Conditioner
5. Instructions

Platinum Blonde Highlights On Dirty Blonde Hair

Adding platinum blonde highlights on dirty blonde hair is a fantastic way to add some spunk and brilliance to your locks. Platinum blonde is the lightest color on the blonde spectrum and is often cool-toned. Typically this shade suits people with pale and fair complexions.

It’s crucial to note that depending on the lightness of your hair before you decide to go platinum, it might take a few trips to the salon or the box dye to get it where you want it. Going too light too soon can cause severe damage to your hair.

Pros of Platinum Blonde Highlights on Dirty Blonde Hair	Cons of Platinum Blonde Highlights On Dirty Blonde Hair
If it’s time to switch up the color, you can go with almost any shade because your hair will technically be the lightest shade.	It’s expensive to get and upkeep.
Not many people have this color, so you will stand out and be unique.	High maintenance.
It can be flattering on cooler undertones.	It can cause damage to the hair

Light Dirty Blonde Hair

Perhaps you, like many others born with light blonde hair, want to return to your “natural” color after it darkens with age. If that’s the case, then this is a perfect opportunity for you to feed into that nostalgia. Light dirty blonde hair will lighten your locks and add dimension to your hair. Dirty blonde is a more mature shade of blonde hair and a great alternative to going to the blonde hair color you may have had as a child. All we ask is that you don’t claim it’s your natural color cause it doesn’t count if your hair was once upon a time (when you were a toddler) that color or even lighter.

Dirty Strawberry Blonde Hair

For all the natural redheads wanting to switch up their color, you can’t go wrong dyeing it a dirty strawberry blonde color. Mixing blonde and strawberry together creates an unreal hue that will leave you never wanting to return to your natural color. You have been warned!

Perhaps you are not a natural redhead but want to add a striking and refreshing twist to your locks, then this dirty strawberry-blonde hair color might be your winner. It’s important to note, however, that adding red to your hair can be tricky because the molecules in red pigments are way larger than other colors, meaning they stay in your hair for much longer.

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Dirty Blonde Hair With Highlights And Lowlights

When it comes to dyeing your hair, it’s always essential to make sure there is a dimension, or else it can look flat. Dirty blonde hair with highlights and lowlights combined will solve that problem and create depth. If you want to go with a different dark or light color from what you might have on your head right now, getting a mix of both may be the perfect option. However, you might be wondering what the difference is between highlights and lowlights.

Lowlight Characteristics	Highlight Characteristics
Dyed sections of hair.	Bleached sections of hair.
Daker strands than your original hair color.	Lighter strands than your original color.
Touch-ups every two to four months.	Touch-ups every six to eight weeks.
For care use a color-safe shampoo.	For care use purple shampoo.
Cost less.	Cost more.

Dirty Dishwater Blonde Hair Color

Dirty dishwater blonde hair color is just another name for light honey brown hair; however, this one is cooler and silvery-toned instead of the typical warm tone characteristic of dirty blonde hair. It’s made up of all the same components as the other color options yet have a hint of more silver and cool tones. This hair color is great for people with cool undertones in their complexions.

This shade might be the perfect middle ground if you are interested in platinum dirt blonde hair but not the potential risks. Going dirty dishwater blonde will give you the same hint of silver as platinum does, on a smaller scale and with way less damage. This option may also be great to start with to help mediate the risks when you want to work up to platinum.

Time To Get Dirty

Now that you know which undertone you are and what options there are for dirty blonde hair, you can make an informative decision on whether or not dyeing your hair this color is what you want. We will say that we’ve never heard anyone complain about going blonde and that this blog might be your sign to do it. Changing the color of your hair isn’t permanent, so if you dye it the wrong shade or dislike it overall, you can dye it back or try another new and fun colors.